


If the Surface Begs You Home

by QuickedWeen



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: (Harry/OMC), (a little bit), Alternate Universe - Small Town, Anxiety, Break Up, Camp Counselor Liam, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Librarian Louis, Light Angst, M/M, Mermaid Harry, Mpreg, Music Counselor Niall, No Smut, Post-Break Up, Pregnant Harry, Seaside, Summer Camp, day camp, soft boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-08 23:39:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11657085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuickedWeen/pseuds/QuickedWeen
Summary: Harry is a mermaid from the underwater kingdom of Mercadia who is a little too fascinated by life above the surface. He's kicked out of his home after he winds up pregnant, and has to figure out how to make his way in the world.Louis is the darling of the small neighbouring seaside village who came home after university to take over their local library, and can't seem to stay away from the mysterious pregnant mermaid his friends introduce him to.





	If the Surface Begs You Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyLondonderry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLondonderry/gifts).



> Dear LadyLondonderry,  
> As I'm sure you've noticed, I changed your prompt a little (a lot). I hope you'll forgive me!
> 
> More after fics are revealed!
> 
> Notes on the world (all of this is touched on in the fic, but if you have questions you can read it here first):
> 
> 1) The mermaid/human transition is lifted from Pirates of the Caribbean 4. If you haven't seen it, while on land mermaids' tails fall away and they have legs. In the water the tail reforms.
> 
> 2) Mermaids and humans interacting is relatively normalized. They tend to stick to their own kind and ignore each other, but in smaller coastal towns there are still suspicions between the two populations.
> 
> 3) Men being pregnant is somewhat rare, but also normalized.
> 
> If you have any other questions feel free to ask me in the comment section!

**MAY -** **_Three Months_ **

The porcelain of the tub was cool and impersonal against Harry’s hand as he leaned down to test the water of the bath he had drawn.

Still too warm.

He fiddled with the taps and then reached his hand down to the water once again. While he waited for the temperature to change, he picked up the bunches of sea lavender he had added to the water after he had added the salt. He didn’t always need the extra salinity, but today he was feeling especially homesick, so it would be comforting.

The sea lavender swirled around a few times following the path Harry’s hand cut for it through the bath. The skin of his hand began to break out in blue and green splotches before he lifted it out of the water once more.

Deciding it was better to be in the water than out, no matter how warm it was, Harry lifted himself out of his hunch, sparing a moment to stretch out the twinge in his lower back. Gingerly, he lifted one foot over the side of the tub. It wasn’t so bad after all, he mused.

When he finally sank all the way down into the water - well, up to his collarbone at least - he forced himself to keep his eyes open, if only for a moment. He watched as the light tingle began in his toes; the scales always began to form at his ankles, wrapping his feet together. From there, the diaphanous material of his fin extended out away from him. The rest of his tail formed slowly, climbing up his human legs. He began to lose the feeling of having control over two entities. He was finally whole again.

The process wasn’t always so drawn out. There were times when he would leave land so quickly that he had no choice but to dive right off one of the docks at the marina, tail forming almost immediately upon hitting the sea water. Marina was probably a generous term for this small town, Harry had seen some really impressive ports in his time, but this harbor was home.

Feeling even more claustrophobic than before, Harry lifted himself out of the water slightly in order to open the window above his bath as much as he could. From this angle he could only get it up a few inches, but that still allowed for a slight ocean breeze and the comfortingly bracing sound of the gulls to filter through.

Now that his tail was back he could relax a bit more; he leaned against the side and rested his head on the lip of the tub. The cool porcelain didn’t feel any more welcoming than it had under his hand, nothing like the silk of skin when someone wrapped their arms around him, but it would have to do for now.

That had been so close to being his reality. Countless daydreams of sitting in the tub for hours wrapped up in the boy he loved. He used to swim about his daily life with his family under the water, just thinking about Dylan and the life they would have.

He came up to the surface as many times as he could to see him. There was a locker at the local rec center by the harbor where Harry’s friend Liam would let him stash his human stuff. On the weekends he would surface, sneak into the back of the building, grab his clothes, send Dylan a text message, and meet him at the local club.

Club, again, was probably a generous word. But they would drink and dance and have fun, and it was so freeing.

Now, Harry was the opposite of free. Or maybe he was too free? He couldn’t quite decide.

His parents had begun to catch on to his trips above the surface, one too many missed family outings. Officially, mermaids and humans lived harmoniously. That was definitely the case in more densely populated areas. But here, in small coastal towns the suspicions ran too deep, and grudges weren’t so easily buried.

While everyone tried to live together, humans still looked at mermaids as objects rather than people, and mermaids still didn’t trust humans.

Harry was caught in the middle. While he loved his home, he didn’t understand why he couldn’t also be fascinated by humans and the way they lived. He now knew that he had been sheltered. The humans he had met while out and about, his friends Liam and Niall, their friends, were all wonderful welcoming people, but he was only on land for a few hours at a time.

Well, he had been. Now it was slightly more permanent.

Three months ago, Harry had begun to feel off. He could tell something was wrong, but he didn’t know what. It was his mother that figured it out first.

She was ecstatic, thinking he had finally accepted one of the many courtship offers he had received without telling her. He hadn’t.

When she finally understood the extent to which he had betrayed their kind, she wasn’t thrilled, but his whole family was prepared to help him in any way that they could. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the final say. The head of their society had found out, Harry didn’t really know how to equate him to the human world, he wasn’t a king or anything, but he decided what was or was not acceptable amongst their school, and he had decided that Harry was definitely not.

Harry had naively believed Dylan’s whispers of sweet nothings as they laid in bed week after week, and assumed that he would welcome Harry with open arms.

Carrying as many belongings as he could from his life below the surface, Harry had arrived on land in the middle of the day. He knew enough of Dylan’s schedule to know that he had the day off, so he made it to his ever-expanding wardrobe at the rec center and retrieved his phone to call him.

To say he was not welcomed would be an understatement. Harry had watched enough television to understand that he had been Dylan’s piece on the side, but he quite preferred the term “mistress.” He thought it was a little more elegant and dangerous sounding.

Liam found him a few hours later, curled in on himself on the floor of the locker room. He knew Harry hated the chlorine of the pool water, so he took him to his apartment, filled the bathtub, and had made Harry as comfortable as he possibly could.

Later, when Liam told him about that afternoon, he explained to Harry that he had been worried because Harry didn’t flinch or cry, he just sat there, staring out into space. That was how he knew something was terribly wrong. In turn, Harry explained to him that mermaid tears are incredibly rare, and he doesn’t cry the way humans do. Only in times of great happiness.

He sighed deeply and lifted his hand to rub at his abdomen. At three months pregnant, his stomach was not yet showing. Pushing his hips down, he folded his tail up a bit so that his entire body was under the surface, and breathed deeply for the first time in awhile as his gills emerged on either side of his neck just above his collarbone.

Liam and Niall had been the ones to help him get on his feet - he gave a little giggle at the idea of a mermaid getting on his feet. They had taken him into their shared apartment, and had helped him figure out where he could exchange some of his money. Because there was a fair bit of trade between mermaids and humans there were a few places where they would do the exchange, London being one of them.

He had taken the train for the first time to ride down with Niall, and as he got farther and farther away from the sea he began to get a bit twitchy. Niall had brought his guitar and played a soft melody for him to help him calm down. Music always helped. Maybe it was the ancient siren blood that ran through the veins of every mermaid, or maybe it was just something to take his mind off the trouble he was in.

The money he brought with him was enough that he could live comfortably for about a year before he would have to think about getting a job, but that was without factoring in the baby on the way.

Liam had helped him find his flat, a small studio by the sea with a bathroom and tub that was nearly the size of the rest of the living space. That was all he needed. Really.

He sighed again.

Harry did the math. He was three months pregnant, he left Mercadia at three weeks, then stayed with Liam and Niall for a month, so he had been living completely on his own for a month. That was an accomplishment at twenty five, especially for a pregnant mermaid. Culturally, despite there being a valued currency, financial independence wasn’t really a focus or goal for mermaids; the ocean’s gifts were endless, so they didn’t need wealth.

He still needed a job, if only for something to do. Distraction would be welcome; he had spent his time topside learning about the town, shopping, cooking, creating a routine for himself. But the days were long, and he had no choice but to think about Dylan, the baby, and his family. His homesick wallowing was unavoidably unintentional.

Liam had saved him once again. Earlier in May, Liam told him they needed a lifeguard and swimming teacher for the camps that were run through the rec center. Harry was worried about being in the ocean, but the swimming area was shallow enough that it shouldn’t interfere, or really be on the radar, of anyone from Mercadia and their business. And he would be near the water. In the water. If he closed his eyes he could almost taste it.

A handful of sea salt and clumps of sea lavender were nothing compared to the real ocean.

Just then a brash knock on his front door echoed through the small flat, loud enough that he could hear it from where he was still submerged. He lifted his head up and allowed his body a brief moment and a small gasp as his gills retracted again.

“It’s open!” he called, knowing it was probably Liam and Niall there for something they liked to call ‘Lads Night.’ Their flat had more room, but Harry was the better cook, and his flea market sofa was definitely comfier than theirs.

“Hiya, Harry,” he heard Niall shout from the kitchen, accompanied by the light rustling of plastic bags. They did do the shopping, then. Harry didn’t understand how two boys who had lived on land their whole lives were so reliant on a mermaid who had only really been cooking for a few months for their meals. Niall always pointed out that Harry seemed to have more of a knack for it, and before him they just ate a lot of frozen food.

Liam popped his head in the open bathroom doorway, “Hey, alright mate?” Liam asked, face open and kind as always. Having lived with Harry, he knew that the baths were for comfort, not necessarily for bathing.

Harry gave him a small smile in return, “Yeah, all good.”

“We’re going to start up Fifa while you make dinner, yeah?”

“Sounds great, Li.” Liam disappeared again, knowing to give Harry a little time and space when getting out of the water. He had no choice but to lean over and drain the tub, not having any idea how long he had been in there. He couldn’t get out of the tub until all of the water was completely gone. Only then would his tail fall away again.

 

Later that evening, after dinner, they had popped a movie in when Liam interrupted the action on screen, “By the way, Harry, there’s going to be a staff meeting for all the counselors on Thursday afternoon.”

“Staff meeting?” Harry asked, confused. Sometimes Liam forgot that Harry had only been topside for a short amount of time. When Harry was feeling particularly low, he liked to think that spoke to how well he was adapting and that always lifted his spirits.

“Right. Yeah. Staff meeting, everyone is just going to get together and talk about plans for the summer, procedures, training that we’ll have to go through,” he explained. “The actual training will be the weekend before camp starts, but this meeting will be short to iron out details.

“Sure,” Harry shrugged. It wasn’t as though he had any other plans, and he really was quite excited about getting the chance to meet everyone else. And start the job. He absolutely adored children, and Liam mentioned that the kids attending the camp were all under the age of thirteen.

He must have been absentmindedly rubbing his stomach, because Liam interrupted his thoughts.

“My sister said we should probably take you to see a doctor, get some tests done, make sure you and the baby are healthy and all that.” Liam looked concerned. He was very good at that. 

“I thought about that too, but I’m not sure where I would go. Is there anyone who would know how to treat me?” he asked, not really expecting an answer.

“I’m not sure,” Liam’s brow furrowed, “but we’ll find someone.” He seemed very determined, and Harry’s heart swelled with love for his friend. He very easily could have been kicked out of his home and had no one to turn to on land, but he was fortunate, and could put that worry out of his head.

 

Thursday found Harry on the street in front of the village library. The front facade had been maintained; it was a quaint, old fashioned brick building with a few high pointed gables, and a tall chimney. There had been multiple additions over the years, each architect adding their own personal flair, so the overall impression was a bit of a mish-mash. From the street, though, all Harry could see was the historic portion.

A few raindrops landed on his arm as he pulled his beat up old phone that Dylan had gotten him out of his pocket to check the time. He was early, but he knew Liam would be here setting up, so he headed inside.

The camp would be using the library facilities for quite a bit over the course of the summer, starting with their staff meetings and orientation trainings. Computer activity hours, when they were offered, would be held in the library as well. The meeting hall would also serve as their rainy day lunch room. As a lifeguard, he probably wouldn’t use it all that much, but he also didn’t have a personal computer, and Liam mentioned that they had facilities here he could use if he wanted.

Pushing through the wooden door under the brick archway, he made his way through the small courtyard and into the side entrance Liam had directed him to over the phone earlier in the day.

When he made it to the largest study room - they didn’t need the meeting hall quite yet - he was met with a crowd that was already gathering. Niall was in the corner strumming his guitar, he would lead the music activity hours, talking to a pretty brunette Harry had never met before. He hadn’t met a lot of people his own age, really. Just the people who frequented the club where he liked to dance, and even then, many of them weren’t up for deep conversation.

His heartbeat surged as he realized he could make friends. _Real friends_. His own age. As quickly as the thought came, he felt a twinge of homesickness for his sister and their friends in Mercadia. Shaking off his melancholy, he located Liam in the corner talking to one of the group counselors - Sarah - he thought her name was.

She saw him first and turned to smile at him in welcome, alerting Liam to his presence.

“Hiya, Harry. Have you met Sarah?” he asked, definitely keyed up for the afternoon. It was nice to see him so happy and in his element. The camp was his pet project and had grown over the last four years under his leadership.

“I think once before,” she nodded, reaching out to shake his hand before she turned back to Liam. “I’m going to go find Louis.”

“Sounds good,” he replied. He dug around for a few moments before he pulled a large stack of white paper from the depths of a cardboard box. “Harry, will you do me a favor and put one packet at each seat?”

Harry stared down at the paper in his hands before looking up at Liam, then looking at the paper again. Even though he had been coming up above the surface for most of his life, he had never really encountered bunches of paper like this, but it seemed simple enough.

After he finally managed to get the hang of juggling the stack while simultaneously doling out the packets, he came to the end of the empty chairs. Turning around, he brought the excess up to the front of the room, but Liam was busy so he dropped them in their original box.

Placing his hands on his hips he surveyed his work. Each chair was satisfyingly covered by a bright white rectangle. Job well done.

Staff members continued to file in and disrupt Harry’s beautiful packet distribution by picking the papers up and thumbing through the pages. Most of the chairs were filled when he heard boisterous laughter floating in through the open doorway. Sarah was walking back into the room, this time mid-conversation with a man Harry had never seen before.

He was the most beautiful man Harry had ever laid eyes on. His smile was large as he tried to talk to Sarah around it while they joked about what sounded like, books? Maybe? The skin next to his bright blue eyes was crinkled up in mirth, and his fringe was soft where it covered his forehead. Harry flexed his hand to stave off the desire to push the strands back away from the man’s face.

Harry was so shocked by him, he missed everyone filling in the seats and had to take the one farthest away from this glorious creature. Liam and Sarah made their way up to start the meeting and Harry did his best to find a way to angle his body so that he could see them and the man at the same time. He was beginning to get a crick in his neck.

The meeting itself wasn’t all that interesting. There was a lot about being a group counselor, or an activity counselor, that didn’t really apply to Harry, and there were a lot of words and phrases he didn’t really understand out of context, so he drifted off.

Niall nudged him a few times, but finally managed to keep him awake with the promise of going to get pizza when they were done.

Harry knew he would be getting cravings at some point, but they hadn’t really started yet. He also didn’t have much morning sickness at all. That wasn’t something he had ever heard of, it wasn’t prevalent in mermaid pregnancy, but he wasn’t sure how his body would respond, because his baby was only half mermaid. It stood to reason that he could be in for some human symptoms as well. He really needed to find a doctor.

When Liam and Sarah finished their presentation, the room began to clear. Niall was staying behind to wait for Liam and in the chaos, Harry missed him inviting the man Harry had been admiring, but after everyone else left, only the four of them remained.

“Louis, mate, this is Harry,” Niall nodded in his direction. Louis. That was the man’s name. Louis held his hand out towards Harry, and Harry reached out to shake it. As soon as their palms touched, the back of Harry’s hand began to develop blue and green splotches. He tried to turn his hand, but Louis seemed to be paying close enough attention that he caught it.

“Ooh. Harry. You’re their mermaid friend?” While many people were judgmental when they first discovered he wasn’t quite human, Louis was the opposite. His eyes lit up with curiosity, and nothing about his question implied malice.

Harry was more concerned with the splotches. Concerned and mortified.

He pulled his hand away quickly, “I’m so sorry, that’s never happened before.”

Louis smiled brightly, unaffected, “Don’t worry about it, mate. They were pretty colors though,” he said nodding towards where Harry’s hand had cleared and gone back to much more human looking skin. The confusion, and resulting blush, still sat high on Harry’s cheekbones as the four of them trudged into town to find the pizza parlor.

Still unsure of why his skin reacted to Louis’ touch, Harry made sure to sit as far away from him - at the very small table - as possible. Unfortunately, he was also completely enamored.

Louis was enchanting. He reacted so remarkably to the world around him, he had so much energy, Harry just wanted to sit there and bask in his personality all day. The weather was still damp and rainy, but inside the pizza parlor it was like the sky had cleared and the trees had blossomed.

The actual weather didn’t agree. The heavens opened up when they were done with their meal and Harry was drenched by the time he traveled the four blocks between the restaurant and his flat. He loved colder water, it was what he grew up in, and he didn’t mind being on land, but he _hated_ when the two mixed. Physiologically, he got all out of whack; his body couldn’t decide if it should transition or not because he was wet but not fully submerged in the water. Damn confusing.

After he finally managed to get inside and take shelter in his front stairwell, he took a moment to lean back against the door. His eyes slipped shut as he traced over the curves and angles of Louis’ face in his mind. He was so beautiful. Harry had never seen anyone that beautiful before on land or in the sea.

Wiping the excess water off his shoulders and arms did absolutely no good, and resigned, Harry climbed up the stairs to his flat.

 

 **JUNE -** **_Four Months_ **

A good week went by before Harry was able to see Louis again. It was the first day of camp, all of the children were gathered in the large meeting hall attached to the library, and Liam was introducing all of the counselors and their various positions.

Again, a lot of what they had to say wasn’t relevant to Harry or what he would be doing all summer so after he was introduced he began to zone out. When Liam raised his hand to point out Louis, Harry perked up. The first night they all went out for pizza Harry learned that Louis would be teaching the computer classes and also the creative writing workshops throughout the day. That meant Harry wouldn’t get to see him that often, and his spirits fell a bit when he reminded himself of that.

Once all the introductions had been made, and the summer had officially been rung in, campers filed out of the room to go about their day. Harry’s first group had swim time at ten, so he headed down to the harbor to get everything set up for them.

As the days passed, Harry became even more grateful to Liam. He had to sit up in his guard chair most of the day while the children were swimming and playing, but then there were the sections with the littlest children where he was able to come into the water and transition so that he could teach them to swim. Teaching them, and watching them discover the joys of the ocean, was more rewarding than anything he had ever done before.

Between groups he had longer breaks where he could swim by himself, but he didn’t dare go outside the designated area for the camp in the small inlet they used. He didn’t fear any kind of repercussions from Mercadia, it just made him more comfortable to not get too close. Mostly from his own inherent homesickness, if he was being honest with himself. That wasn’t his life now, it was easier to remember that if he kept his distance.

 

For someone who hated rain, Harry sure did feel elated at the sight of it when he woke up on the second Wednesday of camp. Because he wouldn’t have to change into his swim trunks, he took extra care with his outfit that morning. It was just because he was able to wear an actual outfit. It wasn’t because he would actually see Louis during the day. _It wasn’t_.

He wore his skinniest jeans, figuring if he actually had legs he should show them off, and a silk shirt he and Liam had found at the thrift shop in town. It was a little big for him, but he liked it loose, and even left some buttons undone, still getting used to the confining idea of clothes. His new friend Lou who worked at the shop said that the color, a light blue with a pattern of little white bees on it, looked nice with his complexion. She also worked at the salon next door, and he went to her about advice for his hair; it was all out of whack because until he moved away he had only ever been topside for twelve hours at a time. His long curls had never needed much care before.

She had given him something called shampoo and conditioner, but more importantly she gave him something called a sea salt spray. His hair was so used to the salinity of the ocean, it really did help. The spray didn’t taste very good, though.

Harry reported to the makeshift office Liam was using in the library for the summer to see where he was needed to supply an extra set of hands.

“You like poetry, right?” Liam asked him expectantly, and it was true, Harry had discovered a love of poetry books to fill his time before he started working at the camp. Harry nodded, and Liam looked relieved, “Good, can you help Louis with the workshop? Because we don’t have any outdoor activities it’s a little fuller than normal.”

“Okay, where is he?”

“Up on the second level. Thanks, babes.” His tone was dismissive but Harry didn’t take offense, Liam had a lot of boring logistical things to do, so Harry set off.

 _Help Louis_. Taking a few deep breaths, he climbed the staircase off to the side of the historic part of the library.

There was a constant urge burning in his chest to get closer to Louis; he wanted to be be near him, he wanted to _know_ him, he wanted to absorb his energy. And the trouble was, that urge didn’t go away from lack of exposure, it only made Harry more curious.

Gathering up his courage, he approached Louis where he was sitting in an alcove off the main second floor landing. The children were scattered around sitting on the floor, on benches, leaning against walls, all spread out amongst the stacks.

“Hey, Louis,” Harry whispered. He didn’t want to disturb any of the campers.

“Oh, hey!” Louis beamed up at him from where he was sprawled on a bench by himself. “What are you up to?”

Harry shrugged, “Not much. Liam sent me up here to help because he said you were a bit busier than normal,” he gestured towards the large window where the day continued to get murkier, “They don’t exactly need me outside, so here I am.”

“Great! They’re just writing right now, but then we’ll come back together and talk about what they’ve done. Do you write at all?”

Harry looked at the pile of blank notebooks next to Louis with some trepidation. “Well, no, but I’ve read a lot since I moved up here. Lots of poetry books.”

If Louis judged him for not ever having written a word before, he didn’t say anything. Harry knew the mechanics of writing, he had learned as a child when his family would come up together, but had never tried to compose something original.

“Here you go,” he handed Harry a notebook and a pen, “just write whatever comes into that pretty head of yours, maybe something will stick.”

Harry blushed. Louis had called him pretty. Louis must have realised what he said as well because he was looking away from Harry, trying and failing to hide his smile.

Sitting down on the bench next to Louis where he had cleared some space, Harry opened up the notebook, and looked at the blank page. He spared a glance at Louis who had gone back to his own scratching. _Here goes nothing_ , he thought.

 

The Saturday morning after the fourth week of camp dawned clear and bright, but Harry was a mess. He had tossed and turned all night, plagued with dreams of being in the water, that familiar weightless feeling of being submerged making him believe he was actually back home in those hazy moments between sleep and wakefulness.

When he woke up, fully tangled in the cotton sheets on his very human bed, and realised he wasn’t at home, he was swamped with regret.

He laid his hand on his abdomen and began to stroke it. He still wasn’t showing yet, but he had gone to a doctor, and had been given a list of multivitamins he should be taking. Harry had expressed concerns that the vitamins wouldn’t mix with his own body chemistry, but the doctor had smiled at him kindly and said that in the few other cases she had read about there weren’t many side effects, and it was better to supply the nutrients for the baby who did have some human in them.

She had seemed a little out of her depth, but definitely up for helping him. There were a few male pregnancies in the surrounding villages every year, but there hadn’t ever been a male mermaid pregnancy before in the village that she knew of. Well, Harry’s mother had always said he was special.

Never in his life would he regret actually being pregnant, never. He had always wanted to be a parent, but he missed his home. Somewhere along the way, he should have just accepted one of the courting offers from one of the other men at home. Then he could have stayed with his parents and his sister.

Harry turned over onto his side and checked the time. The cotton of the sheets was scratchy on his skin. When he and Liam were first getting things for the apartment he decided on silk sheets because they felt the most like the water, but he had a spare cotton set as well. The night before he had spilled tea on the satin ones and was forced to put the yucky cotton on his bed.

He dragged himself out of bed and headed for the kitchen. When he was alone in his little flat he preferred to not put clothes on if he didn’t have to.

Opening up the refrigerator, Harry peeked inside. Nothing. He heaved a sigh and headed back for his bedroom. Grocery shopping. Wonderful.

Harry loved fresh food, especially produce, and that necessitated going to the store frequently, but the store was incredibly overwhelming with so many options and its harsh artificial lighting. Plus he was already in a bad mood.

His walk to the store was uneventful, but once inside he was weaving his way through the aisles when he saw him. _Louis_ . More accurately, that was when he saw _them_. Because Louis was there with his arm draped around a man. They were both laughing uproariously and pointing to the man’s phone.

Quickly ducking away, Harry gathered up the rest of what he needed and sped towards the exit. His heart thumped with disappointment in his chest, and he was getting more flustered by the moment. Their flirting had only gotten heavier and heavier over the weeks they had known each other, and tension sparked the air each time they got within sight of each other. At least that’s what Harry had thought. Clearly, he had misread all of the signals Louis had been sending for the past few weeks.

Liam and Niall had been relentless in teasing him about it, but he could tell they were excited about Harry having a crush. Niall had mentioned something about Harry ‘getting himself back out there.’ It was true, Harry wasn’t thinking about Dylan at all anymore unless he had to answer questions about the baby.

They were both friends with Louis as well, so if he really did have a boyfriend, why wouldn’t they say anything? Were they hiding it from him, worried about how he would react?

Disappointment and fluster began to turn to a much more urgent panic as he paid for his items and made his way out of the store into the small car park. He followed the pavement along the side of the building and had almost made it back to the high street when one of his reuseable cloth bags split open, items spilling out of the bottom.

Suddenly, it was too much for Harry to bear. He could only stare at his fruits and vegetables, artfully arranged on the pavement, as he sank to the ground and leaned his back against the brick that made up the side of the market. Folding up his knees, he laid his forehead on the tops of them and hugged his arms around his shins, curling up into the smallest ball he could. He just needed a moment to collect himself.

“Oh my God, Harry, are you alright?”

Of course. It had to be Louis. Maybe if he kept his head down Louis would ignore him.

“Harry?” Louis had moved closer, and Harry could feel the air shift around him as Louis bent down to get to him. “Look at me please, love, I have to make sure you’re not hurt.”

That startled Harry into lifting his head. “I’m okay,” he croaked out.

“Really? Because it kind of seems like you’re not.” Louis had been squatting, but he shifted his weight and sat down next to Harry against the wall.

Harry sighed, “Today has just been a lot.” That was the easiest explanation.

“I understand, we all have those days,” he paused for a moment, “want to talk about it?” his tone was leading, but not pressuring. The thing was, Harry really didn’t want to talk about it. Not with Louis, who was part of the problem. As if he needed the reminder, he caught sight of the man Louis had been shopping with out of the corner of his eye.

“Who is that,” Harry couldn’t be arsed to try and attempt normal human politeness.

“Oh, um, that’s Tommy. Have you met my sister, Lottie?” Harry shook his head. He knew Louis had siblings but didn’t know much about them. The youngest twins were apparently still one year too young for camp, and the older sisters, plus the older set of twins were two years too old. “This is the wanker who thinks he deserves her.”

“I heard that!” Tommy called from where he was scrolling through his phone, leaned up against Louis’ car.

So Tommy wasn’t with Louis, really. Interesting. Harry’s breathing had calmed down, so he moved to get up.

“Hey, hey, woah. Let me help you.” Louis popped up off the ground, his muscles shifting under his t-shirt. Harry must be feeling better if he was able to appreciate them fully. Louis held out his hand for him, and he took it, letting Louis pull him to his feet.

When he was balanced on two legs, not always an easy feat for him, he realised Louis was still holding on to his hand, frowning down at it.

“What, what’s the matter?” Harry asked.

“Um, well, you didn’t turn blue and green this time.”

Harry looked down at his hands where the were still joined, “Oh. Yeah. I’m sorry about that,” he mumbled going to untangle his hand from Louis’. Louis held on, though.

“No, I liked it,” he smiled at Harry.

“Oh,” Harry blushed and could feel the smile taking over his face as well.

“Yeah,” Louis’ crystal blue eyes continued to stare into Harry’s. They reminded him of the Mediterranean in the summer; he and his family had swum down there as a group with some other families from Mercadia one year.

“Louis!” Tommy called from his place next to the car again.

Louis finally dropped his hand, and turned towards Tommy, clearly making a face at him if Tommy’s indignant reaction was any kind of indication.

“Will you hand me one of the extra bags from the back,” he said impatiently, gesturing towards the boot. Tommy rolled his eyes, but opened it and grabbed a cloth sack.

Once he had thrown it to Louis, Louis reached down and began to gather Harry’s food that had spilled.

“So, Harry, I’ve noticed that sometimes you get tea from the bakery before camp?”

What did he mean he had noticed? Harry did love their tea, but mostly he went because they had the most delicious croissants, and that was the one pastry he hadn’t mastered yet. They were incredibly finicky. “I go there sometimes, sure.”

“Do you maybe want to meet me there on Monday before camp? And we can have tea. Together?” Louis was busy adjusting the bag while he was speaking, but he was clearly a little flustered. Was Louis asking him on a date?

“Okay,” Harry bit his lip around a grin.

“Yeah?!” Louis’ expression brightened before he cleared his throat and attempted a more neutral look, “I mean, yeah. Cool. Great. See you around eight?” He held the re-bagged groceries out to Harry.

“Eight,” Harry nodded.

 

When Harry arrived at the bakery Louis was already out front waiting for him.

“Good morning, Harry,” Louis smiled in greeting.

“Good morning, Lou.” Harry was hit with a vision of them greeting each other like this, except as a couple, with a kiss instead of this foot of space they were maintaining between themselves.

They got into line, filled with other counselors and commuters looking to get their breakfast before getting on the train at the nearby village station. The conversation between them fell into the pattern of heavy flirting they had established before, it was comfortable, easy. Even if this wasn’t a date, it was enough for Harry just to be around Louis like this.

Harry took a deep breath as the espresso machine let out a hiss of steam and practically whined. “I love coffee, and the roast here is so delicious.” His look of regret was met with one of shock from Louis. “What?” Harry asked. Did he have something on his face?

“I’ve never seen you drink coffee once. Ever. I had no idea you loved it so much.” Louis looked genuinely confused, but it was Harry who didn't understand. Didn’t Louis know he couldn’t have any right now? Technically with pregnancy you can drink it in moderation, but a lot of pregnant men and women didn’t because of the added acidity. Harry’s heartburn was bad enough already.

“Oh, well, I’m not supposed to have it right now,” he said.

“Why?” Louis asked innocently, still checking out the display case with the pastries.

Wait. Did he really not know why Harry couldn’t have any coffee? Was is possible he didn’t know Harry was pregnant? If this was the budding relationship he hoped it to be, he didn’t want to start off with dishonesty. This was information Louis needed to know.

His heart ached for a moment, as he opened his mouth to respond to Louis. What if Louis didn’t want to be saddled with an extra burden in another five months.

“Actually, I’m-” he started to say something when he was interrupted by the woman behind the counter.

“What can I get you two?” The cashier listened intently as Louis relayed their order. That was okay, he would just tell him when they sat down.

As soon as they sat down one of the elderly women in the village saw Louis and began to ask about updates on every single one of his siblings. He had six so by the time she was done grilling him, it was time for them to get to camp. Harry was beginning to get frustrated.

“I’m so sorry, Harry,” Louis apologised for the third time.

“Really, Lou, it’s fine. I swear.” He went for broke, “We’ll just have to try again tomorrow.” He flashed what he hoped was a cheeky smile, and it must have been successful because Louis agreed and they parted ways for the day.

 

Harry wanted to tear his hair out. Every time he tried to tell Louis he was pregnant, something got in the way. All week he tried to have the conversation, and was unsuccessful. It also felt like overnight his bump had grown. Where he wasn’t showing before, now he _definitely_ was, and none of the jeans he bought were fitting the way they should. His blouses were loose enough that he was covered, but he had to be able to actually button his trousers. His trunks for work should be okay because they were adjustable, but he needed every day clothes.

After visiting with Lou at the thrift shop again, he came away with a bunch of her old maternity clothes. Thankfully, they were similar in body shape and she preferred her skinny jeans to be long, so her trousers did the job comfortably.

The night before he had woken up in a panic about telling Louis, the possibility of running into Dylan - which was very high in such a small village - campers, trying to be a lifeguard when he couldn’t even see his toes. He knew he would only be about five and a half months pregnant when summer holidays ended, so he really had nothing to worry about on that front, plus even while he was pregnant he would be fine swimming when transitioned, but it was one more anxiety to add to his every growing pile.

There were some days that he was incredibly settled and happy in his new life. Sure, it wasn’t what he was used to, but he had a purpose, he had friends, and he had this beautiful baby that was on the way, who he really couldn’t wait to meet and take care of and hold close to his chest.

His hormones must have been raging, because the idea of holding his baby made his eyes burn. He didn’t cry unless he was overwhelmed with joy but thinking about his baby brought him very close to that level of happiness. He was excited, but woefully underprepared; he didn’t even have a name for them, no matter what gender they were.

The week before he had been talking to Liam’s sister and she had asked him about baby names. In Mercadia, they were given names when they were born by their leader - the same one that had sent Harry away - and his parents had no say in it. Technically his name was Earendil, but the first couple times he had tried to use it when he came topside by himself as an adult, no one knew how to pronounce it. It had been Niall that shortened it to Harry, and now that he was used to how it sounded, he thought it suited him.

His sister’s name was Gemelena, an ancient siren name, which was easily shortened to Gemma the few times that she had accompanied him for a night out. She had enjoyed herself, but hadn’t taken to visiting humans quite like Harry had.

Ruth, Liam’s sister, had suggested that he look some names up on the computer. There were thousands of sites, she said, that could help him and he might even be able to find some that were human but sounded a bit Mercadian too to honor the baby’s hybrid nature. It was really a great idea, but Harry needed a computer. The library had computers, but he couldn’t imagine sneaking around looking up baby names when Louis still didn’t know.

So, he waited. Going in when he knew Louis wouldn’t be there wasn’t the most honest thing he had ever done, but this developing relationship with Louis was still very new and fragile. Telling him about his pregnancy was something that needed to be handled carefully, and in the throes of his freak out about baby names was probably not the best time.

Because of the camp hours during the week, Louis had a traditional schedule and his days off were Saturdays and Sundays even though the library was still open. Apparently his predecessor hadn’t believed in having a balance between his work and home life so he was in the library for every moment that it was open. Louis had a much more laid back attitude towards running it.

That Saturday, Harry made his way to the library to use one of the terminals there. Every counselor had been given a login at the beginning of the summer and Harry had it written down in his bag. He didn’t have much experience with computers, but he had a bit, and he used his beat up Nokia phone without any trouble, so it should be a piece of cake.

It was not.

He kept trying his login and it kept not working. It was a string of random letter and numbers K-T-C-V-O-2-Y he typed, over and over again. Finally the computer had enough and it gave him an error message saying he had tried too many times, so he needed to contact a network administrator.

“Ugh,” he growled as he leaned back in the chair. Sighing heavily, he stood up from the carrel and walked towards the circulation desk. There was a young girl, probably still in school, manning the check out and she was the only staff person he could see so he approached her.

“Hi,” he said so as not to startle her, her shoulders were hunched over and she seemed to be engrossed in the book she was reading. Her long, glossy, dark brown hair fell down in front of her face and body a bit so Harry couldn’t tell what the book was.

“Hello,” she smiled softly placing a small piece of paper in the pages to mark her place. There was something about her that was familiar. She was much too old to be a camper, but maybe she was a fellow counselor? Harry thought he had met everyone by now, but maybe not.

“I, er, seem to be having trouble logging in to the computer station. I have my password and all that, but it keeps saying it’s incorrect.” He held up the paper with his information and she peeked at it.

“What does the message say?”

“It says to contact the network administrator.”

“Oh, okay. I can’t do anything about it, but you’re actually in luck. That’s my brother and he’s not normally here on the weekends but we were short handed today.” She reached for the phone on the desk and it wasn’t until she had dialed and held the phone to her ear that what she said sunk in.

Brother. Not normally here. Young girl. Familiar face. Shit.

“No! It’s okay you don’t-”

“Hey, Lou. Can you come out here? Someone is having trouble logging in.” She must have gotten an affirmative answer because she hung up the phone then looked back up at Harry. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

Harry flushed. “Oh nothing, it’s not important, you know I don’t really need the computer, I’ll just go-”

“Harry?” Louis soft voice carried across the circulation desk from what must be his office.

Resigned, Harry turned around, “Hey, Louis.” He gave a small wave, forgotten login crumpling in his hand.

“I didn’t know you were coming in, what are you doing here?” Louis looked a little bit hurt at the implication that Harry would come into the building when he knew Louis wouldn’t be there.

“I just, um, I just needed the computer for a bit?”

“Oh. Okay, well, I can help you.” They both turned to go back to Harry’s carrel and a few feet away from the desk, Harry felt Louis’ palm, warm and comforting on the small of his back and it made his knees weak.

Louis pulled out Harry’s chair and sat down to login as himself. He clicked around a bit and reset Harry’s password. While they were waiting for the program to think out what it was doing, Louis must have looked down next to him where Harry forgot to put the notebook he was using away, which he realised about ten seconds too late.

“Baby names?”

“Oh fuck,” Harry whispered.

“Harry?” Louis turned his body to look up at him.

Harry had no idea what to say, “Um, uh, Louis, I-,” he began to panic.

Louis could see he was uncomfortable and took pity on him, standing up quickly and rubbing his hand up and down Harry’s arm soothingly. “Breathe for me, babe. Let’s go talk in my office, yeah? Privacy?” Louis led him, again with his hand on Harry’s lower back, back behind the circulation desk. When they passed by his sister she gave them an odd look before going back to whatever she was reading.

The small office was overflowing with books and papers, but there was a small loveseat against one wall, so Louis lowered Harry into the plush seat. It was just big enough for the two of them, so once Harry was settled, Louis folded one leg underneath himself and sat on his ankle, giving Harry space.

When Harry had calmed down a bit, he looked up at Louis and swallowed nervously. “I’m sorry Lou, I’ve been trying to tell you all week. As soon as I realised you didn’t know when we were in the bakery and you asked me about the coffee.” He could feel himself getting worked up again. Just, the idea of Louis rejecting him because of this pregnancy loomed heavily. Dylan had done it. Why not Louis?

There was something about Louis though, he made Harry feel safe and comfortable in a way Dylan never had, after just a few short weeks. Granted, Harry had thought about the fact that he only ever spent nights with Dylan at the club or back at his flat. By now he had probably spent more time overall with Louis than he ever had with Dylan which was a sobering thought.

He had thought that his relationship with Dylan was serious and to find out it wasn’t had been a slap in the face, and devastating. But whatever he had with Louis hadn’t even gotten off the ground yet and he already had to ruin it. With his own pregnancy.

Human life was dramatic and exhausting.

“Harry,” Louis put his hand out to rub Harry’s arm again, and again it was comforting. “Are you pregnant, is that what you’ve been trying to tell me?” Harry nodded. “Okay, well I know it’s not mine,” he joked, “So if you’re comfortable with it, why don’t you tell me the story?”

Harry giggled at that, spirits lifting a little at the fact that Louis wasn’t running away. He took a deep breath and everything came tumbling out.

He told him about life at home, meeting Dylan, his mother diagnosing him, getting sent away, and Dylan’s eventual betrayal. Finally, he made it to Liam giving him a job and meeting Louis for the first time.

At some point in the midst of his tale, Louis had made tea for both of them with the electric kettle he had in his office. “For emergencies” he had said, but Harry suspected Louis had an addiction and “emergencies” happened every few hours or so.

When he finished, Louis stayed quiet for a moment. “You know for someone who doesn’t talk much, you sure have a lot going on up there in that pretty head of yours.”

Harry scoffed and leaned his head back against the cushion of the loveseat.

“I have some questions,” Louis asked, tentatively. “Is that okay?” Harry nodded.

“How many months along are you?” He looked unsure, but he still wasn’t running away.

“Pretty much four.”

“That explains why you weren’t really showing. Will you be able to finish camp?”

“Yeah, even if it gets difficult, it’s much more comfortable when I can get in the water with my tail.” Harry admitted. Reminding Louis that not only was he pregnant with another man’s child, he was also a mermaid. _Great_. He cringed internally.

“Oh right, that makes sense,” he nodded.

“Louis, how do you know when I should be showing? Not to be sexist, by most men don’t know much about pregnancy unless they’re a carrier.

“I’ve got five siblings,” he deadpanned.

Harry chuckled, “Yes, of course. How could I forget. One of whom is right outside?” he nodded towards the closed door of the office where the young woman was sitting.

“Fizzy, yeah. Her name is really Felicite. She likes books, and the quiet, so I gave her a job here for the summer. Dabbled in a bit of nepotism,” he winked, sending Harry’s heart racing in his rib cage. No one man should be that attractive.

“Lou, can I be honest with you?” He had confessed almost everything, laid all of his thoughts out on the table, and Louis was still there, so he may as well get it all out.

“Yeah, of course,” he replied.

“I- Well, there really is no easy way to say this-”

“You’re scaring me a bit, now.”

“No! No, I didn’t mean to. It’s just that… I really like you a lot. Like, really. A lot. You know everything else so you may as well know that too.” Harry stared down at his hands, not wanting to make eye contact. He didn’t think he could watch the rejection.

“Harry, look at me please.” His voice was soft and tender. Harry gave himself a moment before he lifted his eyes. “I really like you, too.”

Harry’s spirits soared and his hands began to tingle. “You do?” he asked.

Louis looked at him for a moment and bit his lip, eyes bright, “Yeah. I do.” They sat there grinning at each other like fools for a moment before Louis continued; “I’d, um, really like to kiss you now. Would that be okay?”

Harry nodded his head vigorously and leaned forward to meet Louis in the middle of the space between their two bodies. His lips were dry and chapped from the combination of his mild panic attack and all the talking he had done, but when they brushed against Louis’ his nerve endings shimmered.

Louis was all soft sweetness, something Harry had never experienced before. The men in Mercadia were formal and traditional in courtship in front of the elders, and lecherous in private, so he had some experience before being with a human. Dylan had been pure instinct; thumping beats, and desperate need. He was always sweet afterwards, but not like this. No one had ever taken such care with him as Louis did in this simple, chaste, first kiss.

They leaned away from each other after a moment.

“Wow,” Louis breathed.

“Yeah, wow,” he mimicked. Louis continued to stare at him for a moment before shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts.

“Work. I’m at... here... Work. Library. I should- Back. I should get back to... work,” the flush was high on his cheeks as he stuttered, frantically getting to his feet and picking things up that didn’t need rearranging.

Harry snickered, feeling just as discombobulated.

Louis suddenly paused in his rearranging of his office; “You turned pretty colors again,” he sounded smug. Harry looked down; the tingling must have been his hands doing some kind of mini transition because, sure enough, his skin was beginning to turn blue and green.

“That’s embarrassing. Again.”

“Don’t be silly, I think it’s cute!” Louis assured. Harry believed him, but it brought up a good point.

“Lou. What are we doing here? We, um, we established that we like each other, but beyond that? I’m a mermaid. A pregnant mermaid. That’s a lot to be getting yourself into.”

Louis moved back to where Harry was standing up next to the couch and his hands quickly folded around the outside of Harry’s biceps. “Hey, woah, I understand that. I do. I think we should take this one day at a time, yeah? Like, maybe start with a date? A real date this time, not my half arsed tea run because I was being a chicken-shit.”

Harry’s breath caught for a moment, and he leaned in to give Louis a quick peck. Louis chased his mouth as he went to pull away and pretty soon their embrace was even deeper than it had been the first time.

When they separated for good, Harry’s head was spinning.

“So, you’re okay with the idea?” Louis ventured.

“Yeah, very much so.” A real date. Harry had never been on one before, had only heard about them from movies and television shows.

“Okay. How about Monday night? After camp.”

“I’ll see you then,” Harry replied, still a little breathless.

Louis wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck and gave him another quick kiss. “I really have to get back to work,” he mumbled, lips never leaving Harry’s. “But I really don’t want to.”

“I don’t want you to, so I won’t be much help,” Harry said, wrapping his arms tighter around Louis waist. He was positively giddy, and had never expected that his anxiety dreams about baby names would lead him to this moment.

“About that. I kind of have an idea, and it’s okay if you want to say no, but I have my laptop with me. Do you maybe just want to hang out on the couch in here and use my laptop while I get my work done? I’ll probably have to be in and out helping Fizzy, but the privacy might be nice, and then you’ll be here. With me,” Louis looked so hopeful, and Harry agreed immediately.

He spent the rest of the day curled up on Louis’ little office loveseat where they had shared their first kiss, studying Louis’ profile and making absolutely no headway on picking out any names.

 

 **JULY -** **_Five Months_ **

Harry was getting big. He dragged his fingers through the water around him, playing with a few granules of salt that hadn’t completely dissolved. Cupping his hands together, he lifted some water over his abdomen where it was beginning to stick out of the bath just above the start of his tail.

There were some adult classes at the library tonight, and the teacher had needed someone to cover, so it had fallen to Louis. Harry was glad that Louis loved his job, but running a small town library often meant that he had to pick up all of the slack. Thankfully, it was one of the only meeting places in town so they had enough rental income that he didn’t have to worry about fundraising as much as some of his friends from school who worked in other libraries did. Everyone seemed to want to keep it afloat.

Mostly because everyone loved Louis. Harry had learned that very quickly after they officially started seeing each other. Louis had grown up here, so the fact that he came home to help the town he loved made him the darling of the village. Harry thought it was incredibly sweet.

When Harry had been wallowing in the weeks after he came ashore, but before he had the job at camp, he had watched hours upon hours of television. Everything he watched had the main character wanting to get out of his small town to make it big, or be rich, or fulfill his dreams. Louis didn’t seem to have that restlessness. He had gone to London for school before coming back, and late at night sometimes they talked about the things that he wanted to accomplish still, but none of those things were hindered by his love of being in his hometown.

They had only been together for about a month, but occasionally Harry thought about their future. Living in his hometown didn’t hinder Louis’ plans to travel the world or get another degree, but having a husband and baby drop into your life without any planning did. Not that Harry and Louis were by any means ready for marriage. It was just one possibility for their future. But, it had only been a month.

Camp continued on, day in day out, the campers were lovely, Harry got to be in the water, his regular transitioning did help with the aches and pains most pregnant men and women had to go through, so he was incredibly lucky. His doctor thought he was nice and healthy. Everything was very settled, Harry thought. For the first time in his life, he felt calm. At ease.

Contentment seeped into his bones and once he had drained the tub and gotten his legs back in time to take the lasagna for dinner out of the oven, Louis had returned from work.

He came in, gave Harry a quick kiss, and rambled on about his day while Harry served them both dinner. It was sickeningly domestic and Harry loved every second of it. Despite the relationship, or lack thereof, Harry had with Dylan, this was what he had always wanted. This was _all_ he wanted. Commitment. A partner.

That night, wrapped up in Louis arms, Harry let himself sink into the fantasy of marrying him. Baby in the nursery, listening to the monitor while they held each other, fighting over whose turn it was to get up and change the nappy. The grin that split his face didn’t slacken as he drifted off to sleep.

 

 **AUGUST - SEPTEMBER -** **_Six to Seven Months_ **

As August came to a close, camp also came to a close. The weather started to turn and the counselors had to go back to their normal jobs as teachers. Sarah, especially, was complaining about the sheer volume of stuff she had to move into her classroom at the primary school before her classes began.

Because the rec center had activities year round, Harry stayed on as a lifeguard and teacher for the for the indoor swimming classes. It was still warm enough outside that he could go in the ocean if he felt the need, but there wouldn’t be any more groups of kids out there until the following spring.

With school being back in session, both Harry and Louis had much more relaxed schedules during the day. Afternoons were always quite busy for both of them with afterschool activities. But that meant that Harry could bring Louis his lunch at the library as often as possible. The entire library staff had gotten used to seeing him curled up in the corner of his favorite couch every time they barged into Louis’ office with an emergency.

Embarrassingly enough, most of them had caught them kissing on that couch a time or two by now as well, but despite the potential awkwardness with the staff, they couldn’t seem to bring themselves to stop.

It was on one such lunch hour that Felicite came in asking Louis for some advice on how to deal with a difficult patron. The person was apparently not keen on paying off their overdue fees before they were able to check out a new book.

They had just stepped out when the phone on Louis’ desk rang. Worried it was another emergency, Harry pushed his way off the couch - more difficult these days with his extra weight - and hobbled over to the desk to pick it up.

“Louis Tomlinson’s phone?”

“Well,” a light, airy, northern voice just like Louis’ answered, “if this is Louis Tomlinson’s phone, then where is Louis Tomlinson?”

“Oh,” Harry was brought up short. The teasing lilt of the disembodied voice sounded so much like Louis that it was disconcerting, “He’s um, he’s with his sister. Can I take a message?”

“Which one love, there are five of us, so you’ll have to be more specific.”

Ah. Harry’s brain connected the dots. The voice sounded too old to be one of the older twins, and that definitely also ruled out Doris, the littlest sister. Fizzy was occupied, so it had to be Lottie. The oldest. Harry had only ever met Fizzy. He and Louis were still trying to take their relationship one day at a time, so Harry hadn’t met Louis’ family. And, for obvious reasons, Harry didn’t think Louis would ever get the chance to meet his own family. That thought sent a little pang of regret through his heart, but he swallowed it down, and focused on the task at hand.

“He and Fizzy are helping a customer, so that makes you Lottie?” There was silence on the other end of the line.

“I have a question for you,” She began, determinedly.

“Oookay,” Harry drew out.

“Why does the random library staff person picking up my brother’s phone in his private office know the names of his sisters?”

Harry froze. Had Louis not told his sisters about him? He was hurt for a moment before he realised that Lottie had expected to get Louis directly. She probably had not expected her brother’s boyfriend to be lounging about in his office during the day.

“Uh…” was all he could get out before she began to squeal at ear piercing levels.

“Are you the boyfriend?!” She yelled in his ear. “I knew he had a new boyfriend! I knew it, knew it, knew it. Tommy told me about some guy in a parking lot and I thought for sure,”

“Actually-”

“He’s been sneaking around with a dopey smile and heart eyes for like a month, and then as soon as we grilled him about it he clammed up. Wouldn’t say a thing!” She took a breath, and Harry tried to get a word in edgewise, but before he could she was off again. “What’s your name, love?”

“Harry,” he breathed out, overwhelmed.

“Harry! When did the two of you get together? No. How did you meet him? Was it love at first sight? Did he have his hair up? Looks proper dapper with his hair swept up like that. I bet that was it. Do you come into the library? Mum is pissed he hasn’t been coming back to her house for supper as much - it’s all she would talk about the other day.” She continued on in the same fashion as Harry sat dumbfounded on the other end of the line.

It was clear now why Louis hadn’t been telling the rest of his sisters about Harry.

Louis came back into the office and saw Harry on the phone, probably looking fairly stricken if he had to take a guess. Louis tilted his head to the side in a silent question.

“Lottie,” Harry mouthed. Louis’ eyebrows rose immediately in shock and then relaxed as he took in the rest of Harry’s very overwhelmed body language.

“Give it here, love,” Louis whispered. Harry handed the phone over to him, stretching out the curly-cued cord to it’s maximum length. “Lottie,” he said definitively, abruptly changing the tone of the tinny garbled responses coming out of the speaker. “What do you mean he sounds nice? If I know you, you hardly let him say anything.”

Harry giggled into his palm.

“Yeah. Yeah. I got it. I’m sorry. Okay. It’ll have to be lunch because we both get busy in the afternoons. Yeah. Yeah, alright. Twelve o’clock it is, then. Love ya. Bye.” Louis untwisted the phone cord and let it hang gently where he resituated the handheld on it’s base. “So we’re having lunch with my sister on Wednesday. Really hope you don’t have any other plans?”

His expression was a combination of hopeful, annoyed, fond, and a little bit vulnerable. It was the cutest thing Harry had ever seen. Louis was the cutest.

“Of course I’ll come,” he couldn’t resist giving him a peck on the cheek, “Wouldn’t miss it,” he punctuated with another kiss, “Excited to meet your family.”

“Woah, woah.” Louis held up a hand in front of himself. “No. Lottie first. Then maybe other ones as they become available. There is no way I would subject you to all of them at once. I don’t want to scare you off.”

Harry beamed at him. “It would take a lot more than that. I promise.”

Louis gave him a curt little nod, popped a brief peck on his lips, then pushed him back on the couch. “You. Relax. Get off your feet. Elevate your ankles,” Harry’s swelling had been quite bad lately, “enjoy the rest of your lunch time. I’ve got some stuff to do, but I like having you here with me.”

Harry returned his easy smile with one of his own.

 

Lunch with Louis’ sister was really quite something. The two of them together were adorable the way they ribbed each other, but their love for each other ran deep. There had only been one awkward moment, right at the very beginning, when she had seen that Harry was visibly pregnant.

She still greeted him with a hug, and waited until they were settled around the table, until she broached the question with about as much tact as she was able to. It wasn’t her fault that the situation didn’t lend itself to much.

“So, um, Harry, how long have the two of you known each other?”

Louis immediately reached under the table and gripped Harry’s hand in his. With the comforting pressure of their joined hands resting on his leg, Harry took a deep breath.

“Well, about three months?” He looked to Louis for confirmation, “I would say, at this point,” he finished weakly.

“Oh,” she said, flatly. She still had the ghost of a smile on her face. Harry hoped she would be able to see how happy they were. “I’m sorry, I know you don’t owe me any kind of explanation, but, um, help?”

Louis let go of Harry’s hand, before putting it around the back of his chair, drawing him in close to his body. Harry nodded, “Right. Yeah. Let’s get it all over with. I’m a mermaid. And I’m pregnant. The baby is not Louis’ because we met afterwards. My ex boyfriend, if you can even call him that, is not in the picture any more, and I really really like your brother.”

Lottie studied him silently for another few moments before nodding, “Okay. That’s all I need to know.”

She smiled again, warmly, and Louis finally piped up to change the subject. From there everything else went smoothly, and Harry began to relax into the easy conversation.

Relief seeped into his body as he thought about the fact that he would have to keep having this conversation for the rest of his life, but he could do it because it meant he would have Louis by his side.

Everything felt easier with Louis. There were days that Harry was so homesick he could barely get out of bed, but Louis would hold him and whisper words of comfort in his ear and he could forget about it for awhile. Parenting seemed less daunting. Going out with their friends was more fun. Louis had taken the dial on Harry’s life and turned it up as high as it would go.

 

 **OCTOBER -** **_Eight Months_ **

Harry thumbed through his new smartphone as he sat at the table in the cafe waiting for his and Louis’ lunch orders to come up. The month before, Louis had mentioned that he probably needed something more than the basic flip phone Dylan had given him, and he had a little extra money, so they had gotten him what Louis called a “real phone.”

He didn’t do much past texting Louis, Liam, and Niall, and playing around on Instagram. He _loved_ Instagram. Louis had convinced him to put a few pictures of his tail on there, and people had commended him for his beautiful photoshop skills. Sometimes people didn’t even believe what was right in front of their eyes.

Tapping a few pictures here and there, Harry wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings, and was taken by complete surprise when Dylan plopped down in the seat across from him.

“Harry. Hi.” Shocked, Harry didn’t answer him. “Are you going to say anything?”

“What do you want, Dylan?” he asked.

“How are you?”

“Fine,” he said, flatly. He tried not to let Dylan’s presence dredge up any unpleasant feelings because he was with Louis now, and he was _happy_ in a way he had never been with the fleeting affections of the man in front of him.

“That’s, um, that’s good.” Dylan stalled for a moment. “I wanted to talk to you about it.”

Harry stared at him blankly. Was he serious? “‘It?’ What do you mean by ‘it’?”

“The baby. Yeah, the baby,” he said ‘baby’ like it physically pained him.

“This baby that’s your fault, because we weren’t very careful when we had sex?” Harry deadpanned. Dylan looked shocked, and Harry understood to a degree. When they were together Harry was naive, eyes wide, too excited to be topside that he didn’t pay as close attention to his own wants and needs and allowed Dylan to lead him through everything. He was different now that he was with Louis. Stronger and more confident than the boy he had been before. It was amazing what a healthy relationship could do for one's priorities and self esteem.

“Yeah. That baby.”

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Well, I know what I said initially, but now I would really kind of like to be involved maybe? If you’ll let me. I mean, it’s my kid too.”

“Not if you keep calling the baby ‘it’.” Harry didn’t have time for this. He needed their orders to come up so he could leave and bring Louis his lunch.

“Come on, Harry. Be serious.” That was what finally made Harry snap.

“Serious? You want me to be serious? Okay. I was _seriously_ scared when I realised I was pregnant. I was _seriously_ upset when I was banished from the only home I’ve ever known because of you. I was _seriously_ heart broken when you dropped me as soon as I was looking for, and needed, something more from our relationship. And now I’m _seriously_ in love with someone else who is _seriously_ amazing. So you can fuck right off.”

Thankfully, as soon as he finished his rather dramatic speech, his name was called, so he pushed back from the table and grabbed the food. It wasn’t until he pushed through the front door that he realised he was shaking enough to rattle the bag in his hand.

When he got the library he had calmed down a bit, but clearly not enough, because Louis noticed something was off right away. Harry collapsed in his corner of the little couch and just set the bag down on the table.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Louis immediately got up from behind his desk.

“I’m okay.”

Louis scoffed, “Try again.”

“I ran into Dylan.”

“Dylan… your ex, Dylan?” Harry nodded, and Louis looked even more concerned, “Well, what did he have to say?”

“That he um, he wanted to be apart of the baby’s life.”

Louis stared at him for a moment, “You cannot be serious.”

“Yeah, that’s what he wanted.” Louis didn’t say anything for awhile, just quietly unloaded their lunch, and set everything up on the small, rickety coffee table in front of them with a contemplative look on his face. Harry decided right then and there that he really did not like it when Louis was quiet. He was everything bright and vivacious in the world, and his current demeanour was unsettling.

What felt like hours later, he finally responded. “What did you say to him?”

“I told him to fuck off.” Normally that would have Louis rolling on the floor, but all he did was keep eating his sandwich without meeting Harry’s eyes.

Again it took him awhile to answer, “Well, the baby is partly his. I know what he did to you was awful, but if he wants to be in their life, maybe you should give him a chance.”

Harry stared at him, shocked, “But, Lou, he kept calling the baby ‘it’ and looked like the mere idea of the baby was going to make him vomit.”

Louis shrugged, “Maybe you’re right,” he said with a certain degree of dismissiveness. The conversation was over, Harry could tell. If he pushed Louis any more he might get defensive, and there was no turning back from that during an argument with Louis. Harry just wasn’t sure why there was even an argument in the first place.

 

Three days later, Harry was lying spread eagle in the middle of his bed, back aching from the position, heart utterly shattered.

The day had started off like any other. Louis had been at his family’s house babysitting for the weekend, and Harry’s lessons for the day had been cancelled, so he laid about reading and listening to music, trying to decide what to make for Louis for dinner. They didn’t spend every night together, but it was still nice to come together after a while apart. Louis hadn’t texted him as much, but at the time Harry had just assumed it was because he was playing with the babies.

He thought about going, but he wasn’t moving around as well as his stomach got bigger and bigger. Louis pointed out that he was at eight months and needed to take it easy - not chase after toddlers all weekend.

Just as he was about to put the chicken in the oven, Louis came in an hour earlier than normal.

“You’re home!” Harry exclaimed, while he was bent over checking the placement of the pan on the rack. When there was no answer, he stood up and turned around to face Louis who looked ashen. “Lou? What’s wrong?”

Tears immediately sprang to Louis’ eyes. “Harry-” he choked out, “I don’t think we can do this anymore.”

“Do what?” Harry whispered, knowing where Louis was going, but not willing him there any faster in hopes that he would stop before he did anything that couldn’t be undone.

“This. Us. You. The baby,” he began gesturing around wildly. “I love you but I can’t-” he cut off on a shuddery breath. “I can’t do this.”

“You keep saying ‘this,’ Lou, what does that even mean?” Harry could hear how anguished his own voice sounded, but he couldn’t help it. He knew that because of his biology he couldn’t cry, but for this first time he really wished he could. “Are you leaving me? I don’t understand?”

He gripped the counter so hard his knuckles turned white. His first instinct when he saw Louis’ tears would always be to run over and gather him up in his arms to comfort him, but he fought against it and remained strong.

“I don’t want to-”

“Then don’t! What are you doing?” Belatedly, Harry realised he was yelling.

“Harry, I-" he paused, "I can’t break up a family.” That brought Harry up short with a shot to his solar plexus.

“What?”

“As long as Dylan wants to be in your baby’s life, I can’t get in the way of that.” Tears were still streaming steadily down his face.

“Lou, are you insane? You’re more of a father to this baby than Dylan ever was or will be. He doesn’t want to be with me, he just wants to know the baby. That has nothing to do with us - I don’t want to be with _him_ , I want to be with _you_!”

“I’m sorry, Harry.” He looked down at the floor, refusing to look at Harry. “I love you so much.”

“Bullshit. If you were sorry, if you _loved_ me, you wouldn’t be doing this.”

“Please, don’t say that,” Louis pleaded, “You have no idea how much I love you. That’s _why_ I’m doing this.”

“Get out,” Harry said, voice firm, even though his chest was caving in, “If you’re sure about this, then leave now. Just go.”

Louis nodded, still not meeting Harry’s eyes, turned around, and left not ten minutes after he had arrived.

All Harry wanted to do was collapse on the floor, but he couldn’t possibly put the baby in danger that way, so he managed to drag himself to the bed and lie down without bothering to remove his shoes or get under the covers.

 

It took three days for Liam and Niall to finally break down the door.

Well, they had a key, but symbolically, they had broken down the door.

Harry couldn’t really blame them. He hadn’t answered the door, or his phone, for the entire three days, even though they had come by a few times.

He just… didn’t have the energy to talk to anyone that wasn’t Louis. It was already physically difficult enough to move without this crippling heartbreak weighing on him, so all he really did was lay around, eat, and pee - the baby insisted on pushing on his bladder as often as possible.

More than anything it felt like one of his limbs had been cut off. He and Louis had only been together for a few short months, but it had been so easy and natural being together that it felt like much longer. They were _meant_ to be together. No one would ever come close to living up to Louis, he would have to live with that fact for the rest of his life.

He was so grateful to Liam and Niall because as soon as they barged in, Niall wrapped him up in a full body cuddle on the bed, and Liam went straight to the bathroom to draw him a bath.

Louis must have told them, then.

Liam had managed to run his bath correctly, though there wasn’t as much salt as Harry would have put in, but he appreciated the effort. They quickly undressed him and lowered him in to the tub, cognizant of his stomach and the baby who was blissfully still for the moment.

Once his tail had unfurled after hitting the water, the two of them sat down on the cramped bathroom floor, feet against the side of the tub, backs against the opposite wall.

They all sat there silently for a while before Liam finally broke the silence.

“Do you want to tell us what happened?”

“Didn’t you talk to Lou?” That’s what he had assumed when they showed up.

“Yeah, but we want to hear it from you.”

“There’s not much else to tell. He broke up with me,” Harry finished, defeated. It was the first time he had said it out loud.

“I just, I guess I don’t understand,” Niall said, sounding as confused as Harry felt.

“He said-” Harry took a deep breath, “He said that he didn’t want to be the one who broke up a family if Dylan really did want to be back in the baby’s life.”

Both of them were silent for a moment. “Do you want to get back together with Dylan?” Liam asked, carefully.

“No! Never! I know it looked like he broke my heart before, Li, I know it did. But that was-” Harry had no idea how to explain himself, “That was like scraping your knee. This is like a knife in the chest.” His similies were a little more macabre than normal, but he couldn’t help it.

Silence fell again, but Harry was restless, “I just want to be with Louis. I want to have this baby, and love it and care for it with Louis. He’s the baby’s father. He is. I don’t care what genetics says.”

“Did you consider the possibility that he wasn’t ready for that life?” Niall shifted against the tile, as though the idea sat as uncomfortably with him as it did with Harry.

“I thought about it, but he had been so excited. He loves children, he loves all his siblings, he came to all my appointments with me, he helped me when I was struggling. He practically let me break his hand last week when I was having Braxton-Hicks, and all he did was brush it off and try to keep me comfortable.” Harry shut his eyes against another wave of agony. How was he going to do this without him?

“I’m sorry, Harry, I don’t know what to say,” Liam sounded miserable.

“That’s okay, Liam,” he whispered. None of them spoke for a long time after that.

 

 **NOVEMBER -** **_Nine Months_ **

Harry was due any day, and all he could do was think about the people that weren’t there with him. His mother. His father. His sister. Louis. He had never felt more alone in his life.

Liam and Niall were constantly coming by, trying to keep his spirits up. Harry was constantly miserable, and uncomfortable, but they did their best to help him.

When he finally went into labor it wasn’t as dramatic as all of the shows on telly made it seem. He felt the first couple contractions, started timing them, texted Liam and Niall, and calmly called a taxi to the hospital.

The nearest hospital was about ten kilometers inland, so it only took him a few minutes to get there. He registered, they got him into a room, and then he waited. And waited.

Liam and Niall showed up about an hour later, and tried to keep his mind off of the pain from the contractions and keep his breathing even. They were prepared to sit with him for as long as labor took, and he couldn’t put into words how much he appreciated them after everything they had done.

After a particularly painful contraction, Liam’s hand was white where Harry had cut off his circulation but he was still smiling and laughing as Niall made up stupid songs on his guitar. The music had worked to calm Harry down when they had gone on the train to London all those months ago, so he had brought it in hopes that it would help again, because Harry couldn’t very well draw a bath and transition in the hospital room.

Five hours into labor, his body wasn’t anywhere near as ready as his doctor wanted it to be, and he was getting impatient. All he wanted was to hold his baby. Everything else in his life was too painful to deal with, but this baby was a source of light, and love, and he couldn’t wait to hold them for the first time.

Around hour six, the nurse knocked on his door. She was a slightly older woman, not quite middle aged, but still incredibly beautiful, with kind eyes and long silky chestnut hair held back in a ponytail. She reminded him of his own mother. Every time she came in to check his vitals, or double check to make sure everything was alright, his heart clenched at the thought that his mother was missing the birth of her first grandchild.

“Harry, love? Are you alright?” she asked. Johannah. That’s what she had said her name was.

“Yes, thank you, Johannah,” he did his best to smile in reassurance.

“Good, good,” she paused for a moment to check his heart rate. “If you’re really all set, I know you said you weren’t expecting any more visitors,” Liam and Niall sat up in attention at her tone, “but there are two women who are practically tearing the waiting room to shreds insisting that they see you.”

“What?” Harry asked, breathlessly. Two women?

“One is older with dark brown hair, the other is your age silvery, purpley, pink hair? I have no idea what color to call it.” Harry’s pulse skyrocketed, sending his heart rate monitor into a frenzy.

“Please let them back, please, please!” His mother and sister were _there_ in the hospital to see him. He was so filled with joy he almost didn’t notice when his eyes began to burn with as yet unshed tears. After Louis broke his heart, he didn’t think he would ever be happy enough to cry again, but despite how upset he was, he hadn’t seen his family in months, and they finally were within reach.

When Johannah returned with his mother and sister and they came into view, his tears were flowing freely.

They immediately flew to the bed and wrapped him up in their arms, Gemma climbing up onto it and over his legs so she could stretch out along his side. All three of them began talking over each other, but Johannah’s no nonsense tone cut through it all, causing them to halt their wild chatter.

“Okay, okay. Hold on one moment. I understand this is a happy reunion, but please be careful with the patient,” her tone brooked no argument, but her eyes were sparkling.

Niall turned to her in awe, “How did you do that? We’re teachers and camp counselors, please show us your ways.”

She laughed, “I just have lots of my own children,” she said with a wink. She left them alone soon thereafter amongst the chaos of Harry trying to introduce Liam and Niall without letting go of either his sister or his mother.

Once everyone had calmed down to a degree, Harry finally asked the question weighing most heavily on his mind.

“How did you even know? Where did you even get your clothes?”

His mother and sister shared a look across his body, before his mother said, “We got our clothing from a very nice woman in town named Lou.” His sister remained uncharacteristically silent. Niall and Liam shared their own look in their chairs against the wall.

“What aren’t you all telling me?” he demanded.

“Harry, I think it was Louis,” Liam started. His mother and sister both turned to him sharply. “I’m not sure what they’re not saying,” he said carefully, not wanting to offend, “but both Niall and I texted him when you went into labor. And, I think he knows how much they mean to you, so I think he probably sent for them.”

Harry quickly looked back and forth between them, “Is he right? Did Louis send for you?” His voice wavered at the end of his question.

His mother was the first to break, “Yes, he did. He was a very nice young man. He brought us robes at the shoreline, and then snuck us into Lou’s so she could help us find clothes. He paid for everything, and then drove us all the way here. When we asked why he wasn’t coming in he just said that you probably didn’t want to see him.” She reached up and pushed his hair back away from where it had fallen down in front of his eyes. His curls were getting long, so she fingered through them as gently as possible to try and get some of the tangles out.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut and leaned his head back against the raised pillow. Longing for Louis washed over him. Why had he done this? If he truly insisted on keeping his distance from Harry, the least he could do was stop giving Harry reasons to love him so profoundly. The bastard.

“Is that true, darling, do you really not want to see him? I don’t understand. Is he not the father of the baby? Shouldn’t he be here?” He chuckled without humor as his mother continued to comb through his hair soothingly.

Johannah came into the room again, apologising for the interruption, and told them all to ignore her as she puttered around. She quietly picked up the clipboard with his chart and began to write something down.

“No. He’s not technically the father. The real father was just an infatuation. I read more into our relationship than he did. But, Louis,” Harry paused to collect himself, “Louis means more to me than anyone in the whole world. I love him so much, but he left me-” the rest of what he was going to say was cut off by the sharp clatter of the clipboard falling out of Johannah’s hands onto the floor.

She turned to look away from Harry, “Sorry, so sorry,” she stammered out, as Niall bent down to collect the clipboard for her. She put it back in it’s slot before rushing back out of the room.

“That was odd,” Gemma murmured.

“Tell me more about Louis, my love,” his mother smiled warmly, and he gave himself a moment to soak up her presence before he continued. He told her about meeting him, and falling in love, and the life they built together in such a short time. His contractions came periodically, and a different nurse came in the room to make sure he was moving around regularly.

“And then he said he couldn’t do it anymore.”

“But, why?” his mother asked over his sister’s low grumbles about doing something to Louis that sounded suspiciously close to waterboarding.

“He didn’t want to break up a family. But that’s the thing, Dylan and I aren’t a family. _Louis_ and I are a family. That’s exactly what he did when he left. Break one up.”

His mother squeezed him tightly again. “I’m sorry.”

An hour after his mother and sister first arrived, there was another knock on the door.

“Come in!” Harry called. The door stayed closed for another few moments before it finally pushed open to reveal a very dishevelled Louis. “Lou!” Harry gasped. None of the other four looked all that surprised to finally see him.

“Hi,” Louis managed.

Everyone was silent for a few heartbeats before launching into a flurry of motion. Liam and Niall began to both talk at once as they helped Anne and Gemma off the bed on either side of him. His mother and sister each gave him one last kiss to his cheek before they all pushed out of the room in chaos. Once they were gone, the silence weighed heavy in the small space.

Harry’s adrenaline spiked, sending his monitor into a frantic beeping pattern yet again. Playing at being aloof wasn’t very easy when hooked up to so many machines.

With the adrenaline spike, unfortunately, came a contraction, the biggest yet. They were getting closer together.

Harry’s yelp in pain launched Louis into action. He rushed forward to Harry’s side, dragging one of the chairs with him, and slipped his hand into Harry’s. Not able to do much more than react on instinct, Harry took it and squeezed as hard as he could.

“That’s it, baby, breathe. You can do it, just breathe with me.” Louis continued to speak to him calmly and sweetly as Harry's body was wracked with pain.

Once the pain had ebbed, he leaned back against the bed, and turned his head to look at Louis. “You’re here,” he couldn’t think about anything except the overwhelming relief that he felt.

“I’m here. Of course I’m here,” Louis ran his free hand up and down Harry’s forearm.

“Don’t say that. Don’t say ‘of course.’ There was nothing ‘of course’ about it. You left me.”

Tears began to form in Louis’ eyes, reminding Harry of the night he left. “I know. I’m so, so sorry. My mum just found me in the car park and gave me a proper seeing to. She made sure I knew just how stupid I was being. I can’t believe took so long, and I can’t believe that’s what did it.” He laughed again, but Harry was just confused.

“Your mum? What?”

“Um, Johannah? Your nurse. That’s my mum. I thought you knew that?” Harry’s eyes widened, everything falling into place. She had said she had lots of children, the familiar color of her eyes, it all began to make sense.

“Oh,” he said, stunned, “She’s really pretty.”

“Thanks, love,” he smiled warmly at him, and Harry had to close his eyes he felt the power of it so strongly. “Smart, too. She heard you saying how much you loved me. I love you, too, by the way, I haven’t said that again yet.” He squeeze Harry’s hand again. “She put two and two together and came to find me. Well she called me first, and figured out that I hadn’t left after dropping off your family. She hunted down my car and had a proper strop about me giving up the love of my life.”

“Wait, how did she know I’m the love of your life?” Harry asked.

Louis’ cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink, “Well, when I talked to her about you, that’s um, that’s what I called you.”

“You’re mine too,” Harry whispered. Louis leaned down to brush a kiss across his forehead, and Harry leaned into it. There was still so much they needed to talk about, but one thing in particular stood out to Harry. “You can’t leave again.”

“I won’t,” he replied.

“No, Louis. You cannot leave me again. I can’t do it. You’re it. You’re my family, and you didn’t want to break up a family, but you did,” he croaked, feeling the panic rise up again.

“I know, Harry. God, don’t I know it. I knew it as soon as I closed the door that night. I regretted it so much, but I didn’t know how to tell you. I thought about how much I hurt you, and figured you didn’t want to see me again so soon.”

Harry thought for a moment before answering him, “I was so angry, and hurt, but all I wanted was you to come comfort me. Which didn’t make any sense because you were the problem.”

Louis’ looked pained at being reminded of that. “Can I come up there and hold you, please?” Harry nodded.

As Louis was getting settled with his arms around him, another contraction hit his body like a freight train. It was both the most painful and most blissful contraction yet.

The noise must have summoned Johannah, and when she opened the door, she studied them on the bed where Louis was holding and comforting Harry.

“That is probably the most social bed we’ve had on this ward in quite awhile.” She smirked at them as she began to take Harry’s vitals again.

Harry swallowed the lump in throat, “Thank you. For everything.”

She reached out and clasped his free hand, “Of course, love. Been knocking sense into him since he was a babe, couldn’t very well stop now.” Louis made an affronted noise and she silenced him with a glare. “Well I fixed it didn’t I, Boo bear?”

Harry stayed quiet until she left again. “Boo bear?” he asked on a giggle.

“Hush you,” Louis leaned down to kiss him once more.

 

After a few more hours of visiting with his family, pacing, a lot of pushing, and a lot more pain, Maisphe Aenthephena was born. Her first name was a siren name that he knew, and her middle name was his mother’s true siren name. Her human name would be Maisie Anne, again for his mother.

They had immediately given her to Harry to hold, but after she had been cleaned and bathed, Johannah - Jay, as she now insisted Harry call her because ‘they were family’ - handed Maisie to Louis, and he immediately began to coo as he clutched her close to his chest.

The tears that Harry knew would come back again began to fall, and once Louis saw them he immediately halted his gentle rocking back and forth. “Tears are good, right?”

Harry smiled and nodded, “Yeah, Lou, tears are wonderful.”

 

 **NOVEMBER -** **_One Year Old_ **

“Stop! No! I am NOT a mermaid, that is your other father, young lady!”

Harry could hear Louis’ dramatics all the way across their flat in the kitchen where he was cleaning up the dishes from dinner.

Harry’s doctor had done a fair amount of studying on the subject and found that once Maisie was born they needed to keep her from being fully submerged in water until they knew she was strong enough to transition. They weren’t sure how much of her DNA was human and how much was mermaid, which meant they didn’t know if she would develop the gills she needed to allow her to breathe under water.

They recommended he wait until she was a year old, so after a year of kitchen sink bathing, they had finally put her in her first full bath the other day. He had been so nervous that he couldn’t watch and made Louis put her in for the first time while he stood just outside the open doorway.

“Oh, Harry!” he heard Louis gasp, “Baby, she has a tail, it’s so beautiful! It’s just like yours but with a lot more purple.” Louis continued to keep up a running commentary about how much she was splashing and how she ‘loved the water,’ and Harry knew it was to try and keep his mind off the fact that they were essentially drowning his newborn daughter. It wasn’t until Louis finally shouted, “Her gills are working!” that Harry finally let himself come into the room and push his husband out of the way so he could kneel beside the bathtub.

With Louis’ hand on her waist to help her, Maisie was bouncing up and down using the walls of the tub to push herself below the surface and then pop her head back up. Her shocked face every time she breached the water line was the most adorable thing Harry had ever seen, and each time the shock wore off, she dissolved into hearty baby cackles before starting the process over again.

Since then, she had become obsessed with taking baths. She _loved_ splashing and playing in the water. She figured out pretty early on that her tail could make some serious waves, and she didn’t really understand the concept of keeping the water inside the tub.

When they let her crawl around the flat under strict supervision, she had begun attempting to crawl her way to the bathroom. She wasn’t quite able to open the door yet, so she would push on it a few times before sitting back and giggling or crying depending on her mood.

Her shriek of laughter cut through the flat again, and Harry waited a moment before he heard Louis let out a very telling yelp as a result.

Bath time was definitely going to be a constant struggle.

He still missed his tub with the window above it in his old flat, but the tiny studio hadn’t been enough room for all three of them. Louis’ flat, too, had been a bit small, so they found another one just on the other side of the village.

Maisie’s first birthday party had been the day before, and all of their friends and family had come, including Harry’s family. They couldn’t come topside as often as any of them would like, but they did their best to visit Maisie whenever they could.

Harry wasn’t sure he would ever be able to thank Louis enough for getting word to his mother and sister and bringing them to the hospital when he was in labor. Louis tried to tell him that he had just been making up for how big of an idiot he had been, but they always had to agree to disagree.

Louis was so traumatised from the days they spent apart that sometimes he showered Harry with extra affection when he thought about it too much.

What Harry had never told Louis was that during those four weeks he had been devastated, yes, but he had always known that they would be together. He hadn’t questioned it. He would have vastly preferred never being separated in the first place, but if that’s what it took for Louis to realise that they would always have a home in each other, then so be it.

And realise it he did.

“What are you thinking about?” Louis asked as he wrapped his hands around Harry from behind.

“How much I love you,” Harry responded truthfully.

“Well that’s good, because that’s what I was thinking about too,” he felt Louis press his forehead to the nape of his neck and squeeze him a little bit tighter. “Love you,” he mumbled through a mouthful of the soft cotton of Harry’s t-shirt.

“Love you, too. Is the little menace asleep?”

Louis scoffed, “Hardly. She’s in her crib, though, babbling nonsense to her toys. I swear she never shuts up.”

“Well I guess we’ve finally solved it then,” Harry smirked.

“Solved what?” Louis asked.

“The nature versus nurture debate, because she clearly gets that from you.”

Louis’ head shot up off Harry’s back as he made it clear just how offended he was - paired with a quick swat to Harry’s arse - while Harry was doubled over with laughter.

“Why, I never!”

“I’m sorry, Lou. I couldn’t resist.”

“Yeah, I bet,” he paused for a moment, listening out, “She sounds like she’s starting to tire herself out. I like our chances. Race you to the bedroom?” He finished his proposition with a squeeze of Harry’s hips, and a naughty waggle of his eyebrows before pushing off Harry and darting out of the kitchen.

Harry carefully lowered the dish he had been drying before turning around and running after him.

He definitely liked their chances.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> You can find the fic post [here](http://becomeawendybird.tumblr.com/post/165150604651/becomeawendybird-if-the-surface-begs-you-home)


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